Other Possible Career Options

If I didn’t become a pharmacist, there were three other careers I probably would have pursued. They are dentistry, optometry, and veterinary medicine. Similarly to pharmacy, they are fields which give you many options upon graduation. In addition, they give a nice salary and a potential sense of fulfulment. Here is my mindset when I compared all the fields.

Chick: Hey, what do you do/study?Me: I’m a veterinary student/veterinarian.Chick: Oh, that’s cool! I have a dog.Me: What kind of dog?Chick: ChihuahuaMe: Cool, did you know that chihuahuas . . . go into long and detailed explanation of their history and health including a common health problem in chihuahas.Chick: You really know a lot about them. Can you come later tonight to check if my dog has that health problem you mentioned?Me: Sure. GIGGIDY GIGGIDY GIGGIDY GOO…ALRIGHTTTTT.

Cons:

Low starting salary for a doctorate degree ($50,000-$60,000). This wouldn’t be such a problem if tuition was low but it’s the same as, if not higher than pharmacy school.

Limited areas of employment compared to pharm, dental, optometry.

Animals can be smelly, loud, and uncooperative. They can poop and pee on you.

If the starting salary of vets was bumped up to $70,000-$80000, I probably would have gone to vet school. If there was an in-state optometry school, it still would be a toss up between pharmacy and optometry. If dentists didn’t deal with the mouth, I probably would have gone to dental school. For me, pharmacy was the right medium.